TV Wednesday: Bomb Girls returns

Before there were the Spice Girls and their cutesy brand of girl power, before Gloria Steinem and the era of blazing brassieres, there were the Bomb Girls. So called because they toiled in bomb factories while men fought the Second World War, they represented an explosive point in feminist history.

Last year, Global gambled on a six-episode miniseries about the uniquely Canadian stories and, boy, did it pay off. An average of 1.3 million viewers tuned in weekly — nothing to wave a lace-trimmed handkerchief at, especially for a homegrown drama.

As one of the only successful series to capitalize on the popularity Mad Men’s blast into the past (rest in peace, Pan Am and The Playboy Club), Bomb Girls returns Wednesday for a full 12-episode season. And it’s bringing plenty of goodies with it.

Not only does it fast-forward a few months to 1942 — the crux of the war — but there is a spate of new faces. ET Canada’s Cheryl Hickey and CBC talk show host George Stroumboulopoulos make appearances, and music acts Royal Wood and Jill Barber will perform.

Plus, there’s a guest spot featuring a certain one-time talk show host with a penchant for flinging around Koosh balls. Rosie O’Donnell plays Dottie Shannon, a journalist who visits the Victory Munitions factory.

“Meg Tilly (who plays Lorna) is a good friend of hers, and after Meg read the script she just couldn’t stop thinking about Rosie as a possibility for the character,” says co-creator and executive producer Adrienne Mitchell. “After Rosie saw the show, she got excited and really wanted an opportunity to perform with Meg.”

One of the draws for O’Donnell was the look and feel of the ’40s, an era that swung to the soundtrack of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. Michael Seater (Life With Derek), who joins the cast as factory worker Ivan, also enjoyed soaking up the decade’s aesthetic — to a point.

“The clothes are next level, so I don’t really want to walk around wearing gaberdine shirts and big billowy pants, but Ivan has some sweet duds,” he says. “I listen to a lot of big band records when I’m at home. We have a new bar on the show called the Jewel Box Club and there’s a lot of big band there.”

But at its heart, Bomb Girls is a show about people struggling to redefine themselves in a time of uncertainty — and having twice as many episodes as Season 1 in this go-round is a boon for writers.

“We were asked to create a lot of cliffhangers, and now we have to dig the characters out,” says co-creator and executive producer Michael MacLennan. “Being able to tell the story over 12 episodes allows us to take our time a little more, develop these characters. There’s also a lot more humour.”

And, guys, don’t be fooled by the female-centric title: Bomb Girls has plenty to offer those with an extra dose of testosterone.

“We’re not only interested in telling stories that appeal to women, because it’s not only about women,” says MacLennan.

“It was a time when women were redefining what it was to be a woman, but it was also a time when men were redefining what it was to be a man. We’re playing with the early days of the shifting sexual politics. Plus, we’ve got some great love stories.” (Global, 8 ET/PT)

Three to See

• Missing your weekly dose of Nashville, or need to catch up? Never fear — ABC airs Nashville: The Whole Story, a one-hour review of the best moments so far in Season 1. (ABC, 10 ET)

• Start your engines! Pawn Stars regular Danny (The Count) Koker finds, restores and sells the greatest autos of all time in the new series Counting Cars. (History, 9 ET)

• Another bit of homegrown programming, Life Story Project, debuts with back-to-back episodes on Wednesday. The series plucks Canadians off the street and probes some of their biggest secrets and deepest feelings. (OWN, 9 ET)